Arizona in Jan. 2014

We took a break in Arizona "to warm up".  We drove to Henderson the first night and then to Pheonix the next night.  We visited the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  Carl is standing by a saguaro cactus.  The big organ pipe cactus was near the hike we took.  We stopped at Tombstone and Bisbee.  The red door gate was in Bisbee.  We took a long hike in Chiricatua National Monument.  Carl is sitting above some of the pinnacle rock formations.  We visited the Casa Grande Ruins and the Grand Canyon South Rim.  The watch tower is at the south rim. 

Christmas 2013

Dan and Jonna invited us to spend Christmas eve at their house.  We made the traditional gingerbread house with Brighton and Kirra.  Jonna helped the girls write a letter to Santa.  Dan and Jonna sit with the girls on Christmas morning.  After opening presents at their house and having a special breakfast prepared by Jonna we drove back to Bountiful.  In the afternoon they came over for dinner and to open a few more presents. 

Sacramento Thanksgiving

We enjoyed Thanksgiving in Sacramento.  Mike flew from Kentucky to Salt Lake and rode over to Sacramento with us.  Dan and Jonna drove over also.  The bike is a new decoration in Rick's family room.  The dinner was at Rick and Alicia's house and Alicia had made special table decorations.  We all enjoyed "hanging out" in Rick's family room.  On Sat. we all met to pick out a Christmas tree at the Christmas tree farm.  Tanner did the honors of cutting down the tree.  On Sunday Bridger was ordained a deacon.  We stayed at Jim and Kathryn's house part of the time and then rotated with Dan and Jonna so we could stay at Rick and Alicia's also.  Lots of fun and the weather was good for driving. 

November hiking in Utah

In November had a great trip to Capitol Reef National Park in the top picture.  The next stop was Goblin Valley in the 2nd picture.  We were able to get a place in the lottery to hike TheWave.  The drawing was in Kanab.  It was a 3 mile hike in and 3 miles out on an unmarked trail on the rocks.  Very Beautiful!  We had tried about 5 or 6 times to get a place.  Only 20 people can do the hike each day and 10 are from a drawing the day before the hike.  The day we were in the drawing there were 67 people trying for 10 spots.

Gohar's visit Oct. 16-22, 2013

We had a great visit with Gohar.  We visited Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, and the grandmother and relatives of a sister who served in Armenia.  We had wonderful Armenian food when Pres. &Sr. Carter came for lunch.  She loved the deer on our lawn.  We saw a 3D IMAX movie with Ashley and Aaron who served with all of us.  Great time!

Kentucky Oct. 10th-Oct. 15

We flew in on Thurs., Oct. 17th.  Mike's scheduling was a challenge with the government shut down of parks, etc.  We visited Cumberland Falls, Eagle Falls, Natural Bridge, Diamond Caverns, Churchill Downs and Mike's favorite places around his house and Louisville.  Great trip.  We came home on Oct. 15th.

Minnesota Sep. 26th-Oct 1st

Had a fun trip to Minnesota to see family.  We did the kids favorite activities which were the water park in Wisconsin and the Mirror Maze at Mall of America.  The top picture is the wave pool and the lazy river is next.  Loved the new black kitten, Shadow.